Tyrese Maxey and Paul George sliced up the Boston Celtics defense in the Philadelphia 76ers’ 106-93 win on Thursday night, sending the series to a decisive Game 7 back in Boston.
The game will determine whether Boston or Philadelphia will move on to the Eastern Conference Semifinals to face the New York Knicks, who crushed the Atlanta Hawks to clinch their series earlier the same night.
The Celtics once again sported a clean injury report and started Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, Jayson
Tatum and Neemias Queta.
Embiid, who was listed as probable before the game, was available and started next to Tyrese Maxey, V.J. Edgecombe, Paul George and Kelly Oubre Jr.
The game started off shaky on both sides, but the Sixers came out with the slightly steadier hand. Boston shot 3 of 10 from the floor to begin the game, with a few easy misses — including two painful misses from White and a missed layup and free throw from Tatum — and no three-point makes. On the other hand, Philly went 4 of 10, with a pair of three-pointers from George and Maxey. About halfway through the first quarter, the Sixers led the Celtics 11-8.
Brown led the C’s early offensive efforts, but it was not pretty. He had a bad turnover and a couple of fouls, as well as missed a free throw while going 1 of 4 from the field.
Tatum hit Boston’s first three-pointer of the game with about 5 minutes to go in the first quarter, and Payton Pritchard got a transition layup to get the team’s first lead of the game. He and Tatum helped build some offensive momentum toward the end of the quarter, as Pritchard hit a midrange fadeaway and Tatum hit a second three-pointer and a couple free throws to tie the game at 20.
Hauser, who opened the game with a slick finger roll layup, hit an open three-pointer from the wing to put the Celtics up 23-20 before the first quarter came to a close.
The second quarter opened up with a continued effort from Brown to get going, but his rocky first quarter performance carried over into the second frame. He hit a tough midrange shot to start the quarter and drew a shooting foul on another play, but missed both free throws and lost another ugly turnover. He was only 2 of 6 from the free throw line about halfway through the quarter.
At the same time, Embiid was struggling a bit. He started off only 3 of 9 from the floor and missed a couple open midrange shots, where he usually feasts. While he hit a wide open three-pointer that Luka Garza didn’t even try to contest, Philly’s offense was largely driven by Maxey and George.
Brown hit his first three-pointer and led the team in scoring with 13 by the time he was called for his third foul on a push-off. Queta followed that with another offensive foul, this time an illegal screen, allowing the Sixers to take a 44-36 lead with less than 5 minutes to go in the half.
With Brown off the floor, Tatum took over on offense and did a decent job, but the Celtics simply couldn’t stop the Sixers on defense. Behind Maxey’s slashes to the basket and a 3 of 5 start from three-point range from George, Philly outpaced Boston to a 51-42 lead with about 3 minutes to go in the half.
White, whose struggles throughout the series continued into the first quarter, hit a pair a free throws and his second three-pointer of the night, but a 13-point quarter from Maxey kept the Sixers’ lead at 9 points, 58-49, heading into halftime.
Maxey led the game in scoring at the half, with 21 points, 2 assists and 2 steals on 53.3% shooting from the floor and 3 of 3 shooting from three-point range.
Tatum was the game’s second leading scorer at the half, with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists on 50% shooting from the field and three-point range.
Brown had 13 points on 55.6% shooting from the field and 50% on three-pointers, but also had 3 fouls and 3 turnovers.
While both team’s shooting percentages were similar at the half, the Sixers put up 9 more field goal attempts and 4 more three-point attempts. Boston also had almost twice the number of turnovers, 9-5, as Philly.
The second half started rough for the Celtics, with an early turnover leading to a George three-pointer, then an offensive foul call against Brown — his fourth foul of the game, only 30 seconds into the third quarter. Soon after, Philly got back-to-back plays where behind-the-back passes skewered Boston’s defense for easy buckets, and took a 69-54 lead less than four minutes into the half.
White hit his third three-pointer of the night coming out of the timeout, but nothing else was falling for them. On the other hand, the Sixers kept up the pressure with a fifth three-point make from George, who got hot and had 10 points over the period. Philly went up 74-59 with about 5 minutes to go in the third quarter.
While the Celtics had a few good looks to cut into the Sixers’ lead over the rest of the quarter, they failed to capitalize on each opportunity and went 3 minutes without scoring a point. While many of the C’s offensive possessions boiled down to tough shots, even the open shots didn’t fall.
Philly went on an 8-2 run and took an 82-63 lead to end the quarter — and it could have been even worse, as Andre Drummond hit a corner 3 just after the buzzer sounded.
The Sixers’ onslaught only continued as the fourth quarter began. Pritchard got the first bucket of the frame, but Philly hit the next three shots and took an 88-65 lead with about 10 minutes to go in the game.
Coach Joe Mazzulla emptied the bench early, deploying a lineup of Pritchard, Ron Harper Jr., Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh and Garza. They brought some new energy to the court and cut the Sixers’ lead to 88-74 with a pair of three-pointers from Garza and Harper. The group went on an 11-0 run over their first 3 minutes on the court together and cut the lead to 12.
Nevertheless, the Sixers’ offense got back in gear and hit four straight free throws and a three-pointer to extend the lead to 20 points with about 5 minutes to go, putting the game out of reach for the Celtics.
Tatum finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists, while shooting 46.2% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range.
Brown shot 41.2% from the floor and 33.3% from three-point range in an 18-point and 2-assist performance lowlighted by 5 turnovers and 4 fouls.
Pritchard and White were Boston’s only other players to finish with double-digit points, as they scored 14 and 11, respectively.
Maxey ended the game with 27 points, 5 assists and 2 steals, on 50% shooting from the field and 50% from three-point range.
Embiid racked up 19 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists, while George scored 23 points on 55.6% shooting from deep in his best showing of the series.
Game 7 will be on Saturday, May 2, at TD Garden, but its time and broadcast had yet to be determined as of Thursday night.
